Is adjuvant chemotherapy omissible in women with T1–2 stage, node-positive, luminal A type breast cancer?

Abstract

Purpose:

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether hormonal breast cancer therapy without systemic chemotherapy is feasible in adjuvant settings in luminal A breast cancer.

Methods:

A database of 879 patients who underwent breast cancer surgery enrolled between January 2003 and December 2011 was reviewed. Patients with luminal A cancers were selected and grouped into those who received adjuvant hormonal therapy with (group C+) or without (group C − ) adjuvant systemic therapy.

Results:

In a multivariable analysis, axillary lymph node (ALN) metastasis was the only independent factor that revealed significantly different between the two groups in disease-free survival (DFS). The 5-year cumulative DFS was 82.3 versus 76.2% (P = 0.700) and overall survival (OS) was 83.9 versus 100% (P = 0.483) for C+ versus C −  breast cancer, respectively.

Conclusion:

In our study, adjuvant chemotherapy in luminal A, T1-2N+ cancer showed no significant difference for DFS. We believe that the role of adjuvant chemotherapy for these women with hormonal therapy might have little benefit.

Keywords:

• Breast
• Carcinoma
• Chemotherapy
• Survival